Did You Know? “When Swing Was King” Female singers in the big band Summer Newsletter and jazz era were often called canaries, a nickname reminiscent of those small, lovely songbirds. Well, here are a few canaries who started with big bands before their careers really took off. A Big Band Quiz 1) Which record was Bing Crosby’s Dale Evans first million seller? (Anson Weeks Orchestra) 2) Which big band was billed as playing “the sweetest music this side of heaven.” Dorothy Lamour 3) What NBC radio program ran from (Herbie Kaye Orchestra) Sed porttitor imperdiet odio. Sed ut leo.1936 -1959 featuring bands and singers[Date] doing the popular songs of the week? Rosemary Clooney 4) This singer, composer, and lyricist was (Tony Pastor Orchestra) also a co-founder of Capitol Records. Who was he? Harriet Hilliard Nelson 5) Vito Rocco Farinola is the ( Ozzie Nelson Orchestra) real name of what singer? 6) What big band leader recorded the Doris Day theme song for Dick Clark’s (Bob Crosby and “American Bandstand”? Les Brown Orchestras) 7) What were the top 3 songs in the summer of 1945? Dorothy Dandridge 8) When the Hollywood Palladium (Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra) opened in 1940, the nation’s top band performed. What was it? Kay Starr 9) The 1947 Rock-Ola, the 1952 Seeburg (Glenn Miller, Charlie Barnet, M100C, and the 1946 Wurlitzer 1015 and Joe Venuti Orchestras) are not cars. So, what are they? 10) What great singer/actress started as a Dinah Shore chorus girl at New York’s Cotton Club? (Xavier Cugat Orchestra) The Tops On Campus Starting in 1938, Billboard began a “College Music Poll,” asking students across America who were A Note from Denny & Claire their favorite big Last July I celebrated my 65th birthday by bands and vocalists. hiking up Mt. Bierstadt, one of Colorado’s Here are the lists for the year 1945. famed 14er mountains – named so because they are above 14,000 feet in elevation. And * Favorite Bands: Number One even though I swore I would never do was a tie between Tommy Dorsey anything like that again because it was so and Harry James. The late Glenn difficult and exhausting, I find myself planning another climb this year too. Miller came in third and Benny Goodman took fourth. Will I make it to the summit again? Well, I’m certainly praying to that end. However, * Most Promising New Bands: the most important goal is simply doing 1) Stan Kenton 2) Hal McIntyre what I can. Indeed, that’s been a theme of 3) Les Brown my life ever since my conversion to Christianity, a decision made when I was 19 years old. You’ve probably heard it put it * Favorite Female Singers: this way – “God doesn’t ask for our success. 1) Dinah Shore 2) Jo Stafford He only asks our faithfulness.” 3) Ginny Simms That’s what Claire and I strive for in our * Favorite Male Singers: lives, our prayers, and our ministries. To be 1) Bing Crosby 2) Frank Sinatra faithful, grateful, and joyful in serving the 3) Dick Haymes Lord…and leaving the results up to Him. Oh yes, in climbing that mountain, I’ll be working hard to get to the summit. But the main thing is to do my best, enjoy the adventure, and keep my priorities in the right place. “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains from where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord Who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2, NASB) 2 Spotlight on “Stardust” The story goes that Hoagy Carmichael wrote “Stardust” in 1927 on an old piano in The Book Nook, an alumni hangout on the Indiana University campus. The first recording of the song was by Hoagy himself on Gennett Records, a small company out of Nunc cursus magna quis Richmond, Indiana. But he certainly didn’t imagine the immense success the song would bring him. Indeed, “Stardust” has been recorded by more artists than any other song in history. And translated into more than 40 languages too. It was originally written as a fast-paced jazz instrumental but after Mitchell Parrish wrote lush, romantic lyrics to the song two years later, almost all versions of the song have been played slow and romantic. The best version of “Stardust”? If I can be so bold to state my own opinion, the best instrumental version would be Artie Shaw’s with the best vocal recordings being a tie between Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole. (Answers to Page 1 Quiz) They Said It… 1) Sweet Leilani (1937) “If I don’t practice for a day, I know it. 2) Guy Lombardo & his Royal If I don’t practice for two days, the Canadians critics know it. And if I don’t practice 3) Your Hit Parade for three days, the public knows it.” 4) Johnny Mercer (Louis Armstrong) 5) Vic Damone 6) Les Elgart “If you want to do something, go do it! 7) “I’ll Be Seeing You” (Bing And handle the obstacles as they come.” Crosby), “I’ll Get By” (Harry (Benny Goodman) James), and “Swingin’ on a Star” (Bing Crosby). “Gratitude is when memory is stored in 8) The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra the heart and not in the mind.” 9) Jukeboxes (Lionel Hampton) 10) Lena Horne 3 So Beautifully Phrased… “Summer's lease hath all too short a date.” (William Shakespeare, The Sonnets) “What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” (John Steinbeck) “You [O God] have established all the boundaries of the earth; You have made summer and winter.” (Psalm 74:17, NASB) “The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last for ever. Even on the most beautiful days in the whole year – the days when summer is changing into autumn – the crickets spread the rumor of sadness and change.” (E.B. White, Charlotte's Web) “Then all the people returned from all the places to which they had been driven away and came to the land of Judah…and gathered in wine and summer fruit in great abundance.” (Jeremiah 40:12, NASB) “To see the Summer Sky Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie – True Poems flee” (Emily Dickinson) “In summer, the song sings itself.” (William Carlos Williams) “Then followed that beautiful season...Summer.... Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.” (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) “Summer afternoon -- summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” (Henry James) “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.” (Matthew 24:32, NASB) .